How to use the basic features of Adobe Photoshop. Learning to use Photoshop (Adobe Photoshop CS5) - creating and editing an image

• Cancel: Go back one step, in other words, undo the last action.
• Run again: Move one step forward, undo the canceled step.
• To help you work with undo/redo actions, there is a "Journal" tab in the right corner of the window, by clicking on the lines with actions in this tab you can move or go back several actions back and forth, up to the initial state of the image.
• Cut Copy Clear Paste: These actions are clear to any computer user. If there is a selected area on the image, then the actions are applied to it.

• Picture Size: Allows you to resize the edited image in pixels in width and height. Moreover, the size can be changed with or without maintaining the original proportions, it depends on the checked box next to the "Keep aspect ratio" parameter.
• Canvas Size: A canvas is an area on which you can draw or edit an image. With this function, it can be enlarged and reduced. When zoomed out, part of the image will be cut off.
• Items Rotate 180 degrees, Rotate 90 degrees clockwise and Rotate 90 degrees counterclockwise clear without comment.
• Flip Vertical and Flip horizontally: Mirror image.
• Crop: Cropping the image, the cropping field is set with the mouse.

Let's first understand what layers are in Photoshop.
The concept of "layer" in Photoshop has exactly the same physical meaning as in life - it is a layer or layer that is an integral part of something whole.
In Photoshop, as in other graphic editors, this is an extremely useful and indispensable thing; to some extent, layers are the main working tools in online Photoshop. They allow you to work with each of the elements of the image separately, while not affecting the rest of the image. They can be thought of as a stack of transparencies or cripples, one can draw on each of them, and if there is no image on the film, one can see through it the layers that lie underneath.

For the convenience of working with layers on the right in the working window of the program there is a tab "Layers", it is shown in the figure on the right. The active layer in this tab is highlighted in blue. The visibility of the layer is regulated by the presence of a daw on the right; to disable visibility, uncheck the box. Layers can be dragged up and down with the mouse. The purpose of the buttons at the bottom of the panel, from left to right: change opacity, enable layer mask, add layer styles (outer shadow, inner shadow, bevel, outer glow, inner glow), new layer, delete active layer.

In the meantime, let's move on to the "Layers" menu items.

• New layer: Creates a new layer.
• Duplicate layer: Duplicate the active layer and position it above the active layer.
• Delete layer: Deletes a layer.
• Open image as layer: Opens an image from your computer and displays it as a layer, placing it above the currently active layer.
• Open Image URL as Layer and Open from library as layer performs the same actions as the previous paragraph, only the image is taken from a third-party site or online library.
• Merge layers: Merges the active layer with the layer below it.
• Merge visible layers Combines the currently visible layers of the document, in the layers tab they are marked with a checkbox.
• Move layer up, Move layer down Moves the position of the layer in the layers tab.
• Layer styles Allow you to add decorations to the layer, such as:
  • cast a shadow
  • inner shadow
  • External glow
  • inner glow
• Rasterize layer Converts vector objects, such as text, to a regular dotted image.
• Add Layer Mask, Remove Layer Mask, Apply Layer Mask Working with masks, similar to layer masks in Photochop.

With other items Rotate Layer..., Reflect... like everything is clear.

● Correction

This tool gives us the ability to change the brightness and contrast of the image, its color saturation, tonality, and also change each color level of the 3 primary colors separately.

Another useful feature is called Automatic levels will allow you to make automatic image correction.

Below in the menu there are a number of options with preconfigured and changeable parameters. For example, they allow you to turn a photo into a negative or apply a sepia filter to an image so that the photo looks like an old photo in light or dark brown tones.
An interesting option called Cross process. It gives a digital photo the look of "photos from the 80s", i.e. taken with a film camera.

● Filter

This menu has a rich set of all kinds of filters for processing and overlaying them on an image or photo. Moreover, the very names of all these filters will eloquently tell us what will happen to the image if we apply them.

● View

• Approach, move away Enlarge/reduce the image display scale.
• actual pixels Display the picture in actual size.
• Show all Show the image scaled to fit the window.
• Navigator Show/hide the navigator tab located in the upper right corner of the window.
• Layers, Magazine Show/hide tabs and Magazine located on the right side of the window.
• Tool Options Show/hide the tool options tab located at the top of the window, below the main menu.
• Full screen mode A very useful option. Allows you to arrange the working window of the editor over the entire monitor window.
• Change the location of the palette The option is currently under development.

The toolbar is located on the left side of the editor window.
It is on it that all the most basic and frequently used tools for working in online Photoshop are located.
The functions of the tools are similar to those in regular Photoshop.

Learning how to work in Photoshop is the dream of many users. Money, traffic, time for downloading and installing the program are spent. However, often everything ends after clicking on the executable file "Photoshop.exe". Looking at the editor window that opens in front of him, filled with all kinds of palettes and graphic tools, at extensive menus with sets of specific commands, the beginner falls into a slight stupor. And remembering the stories of the “experienced”, interspersed with complex Photoshop terms, he suddenly realizes that this is not his. And completely in vain.

We will try to debunk the myth about the incomprehensibility of Photoshop, which has been accompanying one of the best graphic editors for many years. In order to understand how to use Photoshop, just run the program and study this article. Of course, in a small review it is impossible to cover even a hundredth of this powerful program, but it is quite possible to get an inoculation against fear of it.

First of all, we will draw up a preliminary plan for learning the basics of working in Photoshop. It will consist of three items:

1. Organization of the working space of the program.
2. Work principles.
3. Some helpful tips.

Now it remains only to follow this plan, and we will succeed.

Learning the architecture of the Photoshop desktop

The first step is the hardest one...

We will assume that Photoshop has already been downloaded, installed and a shortcut has been displayed on the desktop. The version of the program used for our purposes does not really matter. Any ending in CS or CC will do. For example, the authors have Adobe Photoshop CC 2014, you can use any other that has the above abbreviations. Without fear, we click on the program icon and wait for some time for the application to load (the opening speed depends on the power of your PC).

Finally, the main editor window appears before us.

Looking at the area

We immediately reassure the user. Despite the formidable appearance, there is nothing complicated in the picture that opens, if you understand what you see in front of you. First, let's go to "File> New" or press the key combination "Ctrl + N", creating a new document. This is our future painting or, in the language of the editor, a canvas. Now Photoshop is fully on alert, and you can safely examine its individual components. Conventionally, the program window can be divided into 4 main blocks:

1. main menu (top),
2. toolbar (left),
3. the document window (the place where the canvas itself is located),
4. palettes (right).

Let's deal with each block separately.

Main menu

Perhaps this is the only standard element of the program interface. Here the user sees the names “File”, “Editing” familiar from other programs ... However, there are also specific menus that are unique to graphic editors. Let's dwell on them in more detail.

We specifically did not begin to describe the rest of the menu of the program. Many items in them are known to most users. But the above tabs are the basis for working in Photoshop. And all the commands in them are created specifically for working with graphics. In versions with the abbreviation CS and CC, the “3d” menu also appeared, but it is not so popular yet.

Note. Remember: Photoshop has a big lifeline - any action or even a series of actions can always be undone.

Toolbar

In the working field of the program, on the left side, there is a toolbar. It contains everything you need to draw and process a picture manually.

Moreover, here you can find both the banal “brush” and “pencil”, as well as the very exotic “Magic Eraser” or “Magnetic Lasso”. They are all called in the same way - either by clicking on the desired shortcut, or by hotkey. Moreover, if you press and hold the left mouse button on the miniature with the drawing tool you need, then with a slight delay a plate with its additional varieties will appear.

Selecting any tool, you will see how its attributes appear under the panel with the main menu. They can be modified and customized.

Document window

It can also be called more beautifully - a canvas, that is, a place on which the process of our creativity is reflected. It is called from the "File" menu by the "Create" command or by pressing the "Ctrl + N" key combination.

Everything is pretty clear here, except that you should pay attention to the status bar located at the bottom. It provides basic information about the parameters of the new document. By clicking on the triangle with the mouse, you will see a lot of interesting information.

Palettes

We pass to the most important and interesting block of the program - to palettes. There are a great many of them in Photoshop, and their number is growing from version to version. For example, there are already 27 of them in the SS, and there will be even more in future releases. However, the main palette, without which work is impossible, has always been and remains the Layers palette.

This is the main, great invention of the developers of Photoshop, and today it is present in almost all serious graphic editors. Layers in Photoshop can be compared to sheets of tracing paper that are superimposed on whatman paper, and each one has something depicted. And when the last sheet is superimposed, we see the final image. You can do a lot of cool things with layers. They can be turned off, deleted, made invisible, combined into groups and forced to act on one command - in general, there are many more different operations that are performed using layers.

The second palette that I would like to dwell on is the History palette. It is also a very important element, without which work in the editor would turn into torment. It is especially important for a beginner who wants to learn how to learn how to use Photoshop, and, of course, makes a lot of mistakes at first.

The History window allows you to undo, for an almost infinite number of steps, your actions. That is, you can embody the most violent fantasies on canvas without fear of spoiling the final result. Any action can be undone at any time. You can take a picture of a canvas, go far ahead in your work and suddenly realize that everything is wrong and you are at an impasse. What to do? In Photoshop this is not a problem. You simply click on a picture taken many "centuries" ago and you will be taken to the time that is captured on it. And calmly begin to work in a new direction. That's what the History palette is.

To see all the palettes of the program, just open the "Window" menu. The most basic windows of Photoshop are collected there. And here is what the picture looks like with open palettes:

Impressive, isn't it? By the way, in the latest editions of the program (CS and CC), it became possible to choose a ready-made module for the working environment you need.

There are 6 already configured working environments here. Of these, the most popular are “Drawing” and “Photography”. You can customize the desktop to your needs and save it.

It will immediately appear in the working environment selection column. The screenshot shows the desktop, customized to the needs of the authors of the article, with the Styles palette open:

Please note that next to the permanently open main windows (on the left) there is a vertical working panel, on which you can display the icon of any palette you need for quick access to it.

Let's get into the fight

So, having received the most basic concepts about the structure of the program, let's try to create some simple drawing with their help. Let it be, for example, a 3d ball. We assume that Photoshop is already loaded with us, and we proceed directly to work.

Good day, dear readers. I don’t want to talk banalities, but knowledge of Photoshop opens up incredible opportunities for those who decide to master it. However, in this program, you can do both very healthy things and complete slag. It all depends on the learning strategy.

Let me give you a little analogy. Watch this video, at least scroll briefly.

It was made in the same program that created Deadpool, Avatar, and any modern film. Why did I suddenly remember in the article about photographs? Because we are talking about Adobe products, only in the first case it is Premier Pro, and in the second Photoshop.

In both of these programs, you can do cool projects, or you can do what you just saw. And it's not about the capabilities of the tools that we use. Complete slag is being created even now. That's why, not for the first time, I want to touch on Photoshop for dummies - a step-by-step instruction for beginners. I will tell you how to learn how to use Photoshop at 100%. Shall we start?

Preparation and what knowledge can give you

Why do you want to learn Photoshop? There can be many answers and only one is worth it to really do it. Now I'm talking about making money on your own skills. If you are thinking about having fun for yourself, then you just need to discover https://photoshop-master.ru/lessons , choose a level for beginners, "Working with photos" and watch a few videos, you will not be enough for more. Yes, in principle, it is not necessary.

There are decent video tutorials and text manuals. Choose what exactly you want to master today and you're done. Learn.

But what will you achieve? Entertain yourself with a new hobby, but after a week or two, throw it all away. You will learn some tricks, learn how to implement several effects and that's it. You cannot create anything of your own.

You will miss out on a lot. Meanwhile, such a picture, made in Photoshop for a specific order, costs around 500 - 1,000 rubles in the worst case scenario.

Here is such a site (this is just his drawing), it will cost the customer from 5,000 - 10,000 rubles. If we get lucky. Creation time: well, a maximum of a week, and then if you pick your nose most of the time.

It is very difficult to name specific prices and time, as much depends not only on the knowledge of the program, but also on the portfolio and the ability to find orders. For example, on this site https://kwork.ru All projects cost 500 rubles.

And on www.weblancer.net prices depend on the project, the generosity of the client and the ability of the contractor to negotiate.

Am I interested in you? Then your preparation is almost complete. I recommend that you somehow focus on the ultimate goal: the desire to earn. Only thanks to him you will be able not to give up everything at the rudimentary level and really reach the final.

I don't know how to help you more specifically... try to register on these sites and view orders. Even though you don’t know how to do anything yet, perhaps, seeing the prices and what customers want from a designer, you will have an incentive to continue learning. It is important. Support yourself.

It's time to start

For some simple tasks, even I often use the online version of Photoshop: www.pixlr.com . You can also check out the program online. It is in Russian, you only need to select the desired language in the language panel.

The version is greatly truncated, so I don’t advise spending more than one or two days on it, although it’s better to even immediately download Photoshop from the official site and not bother with unnecessary gestures.

Using the official version of the program has become quite profitable. Developers do not care much about protection from pirates, and in Russia photoshop can be downloaded for free on every corner.

Naturally, this program is most often filled with viruses, as it is incredibly popular. Think twice before downloading. Why be afraid and fool around with reinstalling the system when the official website provides the opportunity to use your product for only 300 rubles a month.

Moreover, you are given the opportunity not only to use Photoshop, but also Lightroom. An interesting thing that professional photographers use. But it's too early to talk about it.

Let's start

After all you have a program, I recommend downloading the course "100 video lessons to improve skills" . Don't think I'm not crazy. I remember that you are newbies. And nevertheless, the first lessons should be interesting for you. If you start learning about tools now, then learning will cause nothing but fatigue and negative emotions. Something else is needed.

Why this particular course? I recently learned in one of the blogging mastery courses an interesting thing that is used by a huge number of "teachers" on the Internet. The author advised, when creating a training video or article, to keep silent about any details, thereby motivating readers to leave comments.

Let's say you "forget" to write how to create a layer, although this is an important detail, or not tell you that you need to use a certain keyboard shortcut somewhere. A beginner will not understand how to perform the trick and will ask at the bottom of the article. This advice caused me a wave of negativity. It became more clear why the Runet is so ... bad.

It became very insulting for novice users to whom the authors of publications put a spoke in the wheel. But, back to the course, in addition to the fact that here you will find complete information, it will also be detailed, since the level of "professionalism" for those who want to improve their skills is different.

Here you can easily learn how to work like a pro, see how projects are completed and learn very cool tricks.

AT "100 Lessons" very clear structure. You can find a lesson on a topic that will interest you right now. Today, which I want to process, tomorrow they took up retouching, on the third day they created a postcard.

No need to force yourself and step by step to do what you do not want. The main thing is that learning brings you pleasure and is not associated with torment. It was not a mockery of one's own willpower.

This course will be very useful even for beginners. You will understand a lot and motivate yourself to do it, but without knowledge of the tools you will never learn how to create something of your own. And you can only work on specific schemes.

Detailed study and independent work

Along with these tutorials, I recommend that you download "Basic course" . From it you will learn what layers are, why this or that tool is needed, what is in all panels of the program, and so on. This course, without additional, interesting lessons, will quickly bore you. Only a few will reach the end, too “academic” knowledge has to be obtained. Like at school. But you can't do without them.

What distinguishes a specialist from any other person? Everyone faces difficult tasks, but a professional always has several ways in his head to solve any problem. This happens only because the specialist has more "unbearably boring" knowledge.

With these two courses, you will be able to reach incredible heights. Tired of special features - entertained yourself with an interesting practical lesson, you feel that you are ready to understand the basics and quickly started doing it. No need to go anywhere and look for something.

Both courses will cost a small amount, but having paid the money, you will want to go all the way to the end so that the investment pays off. And this will happen after the first project, which you can easily, links to which I gave you at the beginning.

OK it's all over Now. If you liked this article, subscribe to the newsletter and learn more about making money on the Internet. I will tell you how to sell your own services and find the best clients.

I wish you success in your endeavors. See you again.

Adobe Photoshop is a powerful and versatile tool for working with raster images. You should not think that you can master Photoshop in a few days, but the basic operations with digital pictures can be mastered fairly quickly.

Thousands of tutorials have been written and will be written on how to use Photoshop, but most of them assume that you know the basics. How to use Photoshop and will be discussed.

In order to start using Photoshop, you need to learn how to create or open an image, what layers are, how to navigate through the program, how to save your image.

So, we begin to learn how to use Photoshop by creating a new picture in Photoshop.

Before creating a new picture, decide on its size. If the picture is designed for viewing on a computer, set the dimensions in pixels, if you plan to print the picture - in centimeters.

Create a new picture: File - New

In the Name field, enter the name of the file, in the fields width (width) and height (height), enter the necessary values. Select in these fields the units of measurement pixels - pixels or cm - centimeters. In the Resolution field, set the resolution of the image if you previously selected centimeters. The higher the resolution, the clearer the print will be, for example, for a small photo, the resolution should be at least 150 dpi. A resolution above 300 dpi is considered indistinguishable by any eye. The higher the resolution, the larger the file size of your picture. To use Photoshop to create images for a website, for example, set the size in pixels. To understand what size in pixels to enter, create a picture of 200 by 100 pixels and set the scale to 100%.

In the working window of Photoshop you will see the real size of your picture and will be able to navigate by digital dimensions at your screen resolution.

Keep in mind that you can reduce the drawn picture using Photoshop with almost no loss of quality, and increase it only at the expense of quality.

When using Photoshop, you need to understand such a thing as "layers".

A layer can be thought of as a sheet of transparent film on which you can draw or copy another picture there. The top (new layer) closes the previous one. Layers can be swapped - shifted to the top or removed to the very bottom. This is done by dragging the layer pointers in this panel:

By clicking on the "eye" of the layer, you can temporarily hide it and display it again. All actions with the image in Photoshop occur only with the current layer. To draw in another ready layer, you need to select it. Create a new layer in Photoshop Layer - New - layer.

You can save the finished image in Photoshop in various formats. The psd format is Photoshop's own format, in which all layers are saved separately and in the future you can continue working on this picture. The jpg (jpeg) format is the most convenient format, it takes up minimal disk space, and Photoshop allows you to select the image quality when saving in this format. The higher the quality, the greater the "weight" of the picture in bytes. The png format practically does not reduce the quality of the picture and also allows you to set transparent places in the picture. The gif format is convenient if the picture uses a small number of colors and shades - it can significantly reduce the "weight" of the file.

Photoshop allows you to open and create several pictures at once. The transition between pictures is carried out through the "Window" command.

When using Photoshop, a handy tool is the History window.

The main tools used in Photoshop are located on the right side of the panel. The purpose of the tools is best mastered by thematic Photoshop lessons.

Another point for beginners to use Photoshop is to understand the difference between raster and vector images. Photoshop works with raster images. A raster image is a set of pixels (dots), each of which has its own color. When a bitmap image is enlarged, the pixels appear larger, reducing image clarity. A vector image is a set of lines with specified start and end points, thickness, color, and points in between. Such images are processed by special programs, such as Corel Draw, etc.

Hello colleagues! Few people do not know about such a program as Photoshop, but few know how to use it. But really, Photoshop is a program that has truly endless possibilities. It contains a lot of tools, effects, various functions, and the list hardly ends there. Let's take a look at what features the Photoshop program contains?

— Change of this or that picture. You can add sharpening, effects, apply color correction, and many other possibilities for working with images are provided by Photoshop. If the picture is old, black and white - you can add colors; there are defects in the photo - you can get rid of them using.

How to use Photoshop - main panel

- Layers

In truth, this is a very useful thing in Photoshop. After all, when you create this or that work, many images, texts and other things are often used, and if you place them on different layers, you can change the location (change which one is on top of others). You can also set effects for layers - stroke, shadows, and so on, and if the images are on different layers, then similar effects will be different everywhere.

You can add some zest to the text, using a variety of Photoshop styles. You can add unusual strokes, patterns, gradients, shadows - just in a couple of clicks.

- Support for different formats

The variety of supported formats in Photoshop is simply amazing. Whether it is a graphic or 3D format - the program will open and you will be able to create the project you need. This is one of the main advantages of Photoshop.

- Variety of Photoshop filters

Filters sometimes help to make some moments of work in one click. For example, you can take blur. Blur - there is such a tool in the panel, and some people use it and blur the whole image. But this must be led and done, and it is necessary to adjust the intensity and so on. However, the filter could blur in an instant. There are different types of blur in Photoshop, and to taste - you can certainly find it.

An example is the blur filter.

- Ability to work with gif files, including their creation, directly in Photoshop. It's tricky, but sometimes useful. Many are wondering - how to make a gif with a picture and text, or from some fragment of a video - this is also possible in Photoshop. Of course, making a gif is not a matter of minutes, but by adding various effects and other Photoshop tricks, you can make an incredible gif animation that cannot be found anywhere else.

- "Save for Web..."

Few people know what it is and why such a service exists in Photoshop. And this is not at all strange, because few people are used to saving images for the Internet in this way. But here you can prepare and save the image specifically for placement on web pages. So you can save the image for the most part without losing quality in Photoshop. When saving, you can choose the format, save quality, and more.

- Abundance of Photoshop tools

The sidebar with tools helps out more than once, and this is the basis of working with Photoshop. On this panel you can find various types of selection (from a standard rectangle to a magic wand), brushes, erasers, geometric shapes, and more.

To be honest, this is the minimum of Photoshop's capabilities. After all, the program is limitless, and, therefore, its capabilities are the same. If you start learning Photoshop as much as possible, you can find completely different effects, functions.

What is the reason for the abundance of Photoshop features? The Photoshop program has been created for a long time and is periodically updated. The specialists working on the update are trying to improve the program by introducing new elements that also need to be studied. There are many specialists, so there are many ideas.

To learn how to work in Photoshop, you first need to superficially understand what is there. In other words, knowing the working environment is part of the panels.

Panel "Styles" - adding collected effects that look harmonious. In other words, style is a ready-made combination of certain effects. And "Correction" - changing the brightness, contrast and all that.

Panel "Color" and "Swatches" - responsible for the finished colors, changing shades, brightness.

For people who do not know how to use Photoshop, at first glance, it may really seem that working in this program is very difficult and literally impossible. But it's not. Photoshop's top toolbar resembles the standard ones found in most programs. Scrolling through them, you can see a lot of familiar, and understandable things.

Something incomprehensible - like deepening in the study of Photoshop. Try it - you will find out what and how. And if there is no desire, then this fragment may well remain unexplored. The basics of using Photoshop - explained in the article. You will always find what you need, because Photoshop resembles other graphics programs, however, it has its own characteristics and additional features.

Photoshop is a useful program. Some people need it for work, others for school. There are many reasons to learn Photoshop. But such knowledge does no harm. The program is universal, which means it is often suitable. Now you know how to use Photoshop, well, if only because the program itself is very interesting.